Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says the career of Hawkeye junior Alex Kanellis is over. The former Iowa City West standout has been plagued by injuries during his college and Ferentz says repeated concussions and migrane headaches led to the decision. Ferentz says Kanellis has been through a gaunlet of people who examined him and feels he is at peace with his decision.
Kanellis had been moved from the defensive front to the offensive line in the off-season. Ferentz says it’s not like a broken arm or finger, as he says you don’t want to do any damage to your mind. He says it’s a decision they support as they don’t want to mess around at all with a head injury.
The Hawkeyes opened with a 16-3 win over Northern Illinois. Ferentz says while the Hawks have a number of areas they need to improve in the ability to run the ball and stop the run was a good sign. Ferentz says if they can continue that all season long, and get some take always, that would help them to win.
Turnovers plagued Iowa a year ago. Against Northern Illinois they came out a plus-three in that category. Ferentz says stats in the last eight years show that if they do a good job of take always and turnovers, the odds of them having a good team go up.
Ferentz says the Hawkeyes must cut down on penalties,as they had 10 penalties, with six in special teams. He says it’s hard to be good in special teams when you have penalties. Iowa receivers dropped a number of passes against Northern Illinois. Ferentz says that was unexpected and he does not believe it will continue.
Ferentz says the things that happened Saturday were mostly anticipated, outside the dropped passes, but he says they have been catching the ball fairly well.